Infant bouncer seats are well known in the art. One type of infant seat is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,187,826 to Mariol, which discloses an infant seat including a continuous wire frame which is bent to form a support base and angles upward to form a U-shaped loop that supports an upper portion of a fabric seat. The curve of the wire frame between the support base and the loop acts as a torsion spring, permitting the seat to “bounce” relative to the support base. Such an infant seat typically includes a seat-belt or strap that is fastened around the infant after the infant is placed in the seat.
Moreover, infant seats may contain a toy bar attached to the infant seat as illustrated by FIG. 1 of Mariol. In some infant seats, the toy bar is removable. Typically, the toy bar will have several toys, animal figures, or rotating objects either attached to or suspended from the horizontal portion of the toy bar. In some cases, objects suspended from the toy bar are free to swing in one or more directions. If the toys are located within reach of an infant placed in the seat, they can serve to provide stimulation and entertainment to the infant as the infant bats and grabs the toys.
Although these infant seats have been known in the art, improvements could be made. For example, although parents are warned to only place the infant seats on the floor or ground and not on raised surfaces, such as tables, this warning is most likely disregarded in some cases. Unfortunately, placing the infant seat on a raised surface can create a dangerous situation in which an infant bouncing in the seat may cause the seat to move toward and subsequently over an edge of the raised surface, thereby possibly falling and injuring the infant. Infant seats with improved stability would be desirable. Moreover, the toy bars used on prior infant seats provide only limited educational and entertainment options for an infant. Therefore, there is a need in the art for improved infant seats that address these shortcomings. There is also a need to provide for more interactive apparatuses that are fun, engaging, and educational.
Embodiments of the invention address these and other problems, individually and collectively.